


Something Like Lightning

by IcedAcidPopsicle



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M, Headcanon, Post-Game Reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:53:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26144413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IcedAcidPopsicle/pseuds/IcedAcidPopsicle
Summary: “You never really answered my question,” she says softly, pulling him from his thoughts. He realizes how important her question is to her when he hears the anxiety in her voice and the worry in her eyes. He notices her fingers on his tunic tighten.“You,” he starts, his hand covering hers. “Are Princess Zelda of Hyrule. Daughter of Rhoam Bosphoramus.”
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 164





	Something Like Lightning

**Author's Note:**

> I just finished BotW a weekend ago and GOD, I need to get this reunion out of my system. FOR CLOSURE, says I!
> 
> Please excuse my indulgence in this word vomit I call a finished piece. As always, reviews and declarations of disgust are welcome💕🤣
> 
> I have a bad habit of posting after immediately writing because i’m too embarrassed to edit it the moment i finish ahahhaa feel free to point out misspellings and wrong grammar any time.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy!

_ ”Do you really remember me?” _

He says nothing but his chest is tightening rapidly and before he could form any more thoughts, tears stream down his cheeks, fast and heavy. His body reacts before the rest of his mind does, like the memories of being with her are finally sinking in to his soul, and he’s running —  _ breathlessly, urgently  _ — towards her.

_ Her. _

_ Finally. _

As the distance —  _ of a hundred years _ — thins between them, he hears her hiccup and in the split of the moment, she’s colliding into him until he doesn’t know where each of them begin and end. His arms encircle her waist and hers find purchase around his neck, her fingers in his hair. She’s sobbing just as hard as he is, trembling against him while he presses his tear-streaked face onto her chest and collarbones. Knees sink onto the grass and one hundred years of grief and longing spill onto grounds finally claimed victorious.

She smells like the warmth of the sun in the shade of the Korok forests, and his chest constricts. His hands find her shoulders and he pulls her further into him. He feels her lift her head slightly before he feels her fingers tilt his head to look at her. Even through her tears and puffy eyes, she’s still as golden as the first time he’s ever laid eyes on her.

His memory may still be fuzzy around the edges but he knows —  _ as certain as the mastersword is the destined darkness-sealing sword _ — that he belongs to her.

_ Wether skyward bound, adrift in time, or steeped in the glowing embers of twilight... _

Zelda brushes his tears away and his skin tingles where her thumbs were, like he thinks that maybe he’s still just dreaming in the resurrection chamber.

“It’s you,” he hears himself rasp out. Is his brain no longer working? Probably.

But a watery, broken smile pulls at her pretty lips and she’s laughing, nodding at him. It’s worth the lapse in his ability to form any coherent thought.

Spent and overwhelmed — defeating Calamity Ganon can do that to you — they fall to lie on the grass, close and still in each other’s arms. The sun is setting slowly and the now-quiet air finally smells like peace.

He’s running his fingers through her hair and keeps looking over for signs of injury — or maybe it’s just so he can tell for himself that she’s real. He knows in the back of his head that he’s severely overstepping his boundaries as her sworn protector but  _ maybe _ that can wait until later. Much later, he hopes.

Her emerald eyes keep searching something from his face and her fingers are tight on the front of his tunic. He’s too nervous to ask and he hopes the light of the setting sun would help hide his heated cheeks.

Their moment of bittersweet joy and grief finally settles to quiet, tired sighs and just the relentless need to be close.

_ Finally. Finally. Finally. _

“You never really answered my question,” she says softly, pulling him from his thoughts. He realizes how important her question is to her when he hears the anxiety in her voice and the worry in her eyes. He notices her fingers on his tunic tighten.

“You,” he starts, his hand covering hers. “Are Princess Zelda of Hyrule. Daughter of Rhoam Bosphoramus.”

She listens, bright-eyed and eager. Her fingers under his hand soften around his tunic and eventually her grip slackens. Slowly, leaning into his warmth, she shifts their hands until they’re palm to palm, fingers aligning. She’s tearing up again but he knows she needs this.

“Godess-favoured.” 

He takes the lead and as still as the time they finally have, he entwines their fingers together; Interlaced firmly with each other, inseparable as fate and destiny had wrought them to be.

“Devoted to her people. Chaser of science... and the occasional frog.”

His heart swells when she smiles at that and her hand tightens around his. She sniffs and wipes the tears with her free hand, shuffling herself closer into his warmth. His face flares up and he looks up the sky in reflex. The stars were starting to come out.

“You love fruitcake,” he continues, swallowing his nerves and awkwardness. He could feel her breathing by the skin of his neck and he wonders if she could hear how hard his heart was beating. “And you’re stubborn to a fault.”

She giggles into his tunic, and when she tilts her head to look at him, her eyes have regained some of their sparkle.

“You didn’t make things easy,” he says and she smiles, fondly. 

“I know,” she says, biting her lip. “I never told you that, even though we had our disagreements in the beginning, I’m... so glad that you stayed with me... through everything.”

Her voice shakes and she sighs, looking away. Evening has finally fallen but the stars are bright and the soft glow of the nightshades in the forest nearby is enough for the time being. He wishes they could stay like this for a while longer — their forms close, at peace, her hand in his, and under the stars.

Perhaps they’ve finally earned this little moment of peace. And perhaps it’s the time to finally jump off this metaphorical cliff he calls his feelings and be honest. Cause, hey, it’s only been a hundred years.

So, just as he did the moment he decided to face Calamity Ganon, Link takes a deep breath and takes the plunge.

“You,” he says, releasing her hand. Hesitant fingers ghost down the line of her jaw to her chin and and gently tilts so that she could look at him. His breath catches when she gazes at him the way she does with an exciting discovery — eyes alight with curiosity and hope.

“You are beloved,” he says, so softly he’s not even sure if he himself heard it.

_ By everyone who chances upon your glow. By me, who is unworthy and undeserving of you... _

Her eyes widen slightly and she’s so close that he could count her lashes...  _ or_, he thinks as his eyes dart between pools of emerald and her lips,  _ kiss her, maybe_. He looks away and comes up for air, breathing deep.

Zelda stares at him, face unreadable, and says nothing that he wonders if maybe she has misunderstood his confession, after all.

He is about to say something when she shifts, suddenly, to press her lips gently against his temple. His reaction was to freeze in place, afraid that if he makes one movement —  _ just one movement _ — the dream will shatter.

He watches her pull back slightly, enough that she’s sure that he could see her smiling and the glint in her eye.

“As are you,” she says, a whisper in a sigh. “Beloved.”

He releases the breath he didn’t even know he had been holding in, when she closes the distance between them once more. He feels her lips on his cheek and her fingers find his jaw. She is tender in the way she touches him that his eyes fall shut and he just breathes in her closeness. His heart trembles warmly against his rib-cage, anticipating and very much  _ alive_.

This time she doesn’t pull away too far; instead, she brushes her nose against his, and they’re so close —  _ so close _ — that when her lips hover over his hesitantly, suddenly shy, his world finally unravels.

It didn’t take a great action to do, but it took Link all his courage and his power to finally lean in to kiss his princess. He could feel the heat radiating off his cheeks is at an all-time high, and almost regrets kissing her, until she sighs against his lips and  _kisses him back_.

He cups her by the back of her neck, pulling her tightly against him, and she is so soft and warm —  _ and finally here with him_. He strokes her cheeks as he drinks her in like water in the high heat of the Gerudo sands and she rewards him with a moan, arms slithering fully around his neck.

She is relentless in her passion, nipping at his lower lip, and  _ Goddess above_, her fingers in his hair ignites the dizzying rush of something like lightning through his veins. Boldness takes over him and he rolls them until her back hits the grass and he’s on his elbows, pressed flush over her. He traces her bottom lip with his tongue and her consent is immediate, warmth giving way to the simmering heat of summer, sunlit days.

There is a moment where they break apart for air, and his princess is breathtaking under him, red blossoms on her cheeks and kiss-swollen lips in a halo of golden hair. She’s looking at him like she’s loved him forever and he hopes that his truth is conveyed to her just as blatantly bare when he returns her gaze. 

In spite of all this, the voice in back of his mind will never make him forget his awkwardness and his ability to incite misunderstandings, and the tell-tale signs of doubt starts clouding his mind. But before he could withdraw into his insecurities, Zelda’s smile is radiant and her hands find his cheeks again. She pulls him down once more, mouths meeting, reassuring him and comforting him in the same breath and in the swirl of her tongue against his. 

It’s almost painful just how kind and lovely she is in the way she expresses herself to him with her lips. It felt only right that Link decides to reciprocate her passion in the slight shift of his jaw and in the way he caresses her tongue with his, which to his absolute delight and derision, pulls a heady gasp from her that almost sends his body careening over the edge. 

Warning sirens scream in his blood to slow down; they have the rest of their lives ahead of them. They finally have the time to be together. 

Eventually, passionate kisses die down to slow, tender nips on blushing skin. The breeze is cool and the moon is bright against their little patch of grass, and one hundred years of longing only compels the knight and his princess into another quiet moment wrapped in each other’s arms. He’s rolled onto his back sometime in the middle of their passion and she’s resting against his chest, her ear over his heart.

“I suppose you figured out my feelings through Kass’s last song,” Zelda says, breaking the stillness. He raises his head to look at her but she’s pointedly not looking his way and her cheeks are ablaze in the soft glow of night. He huffs out a laugh, which is the perfect moment for her to whip her head in his direction, small frown on her brow. 

He pulls her upwards towards him to peck at her adorable lips before she berates him. He feels a small sense of satisfaction when her blush deepens in shade. 

“I’m sorry it took that long for me to figure it out,” he says, unable to help the sadness in his voice. It’s her turn to briefly press her lips against his, comfortingly, before shaking her head.

“You’re just in time,” she says, glowing happily in his arms. “As fate and destiny had desired it so.”

He tightens his arms around her and his eyes return their gaze to the night sky. The inevitability to think about what comes next is slowly sinking into their little pocket of borrowed time together. He supposes she senses his sudden tension because she’s taken one of his hands in hers, lacing their fingers.

“We can think about everything else tomorrow,” she decides for them, ever the monarch. She lifts her head to face him, and he’s starting to notice the fatigue settling over her body in her smile. “I’d like for us to stay like this for just a moment longer.”

He nods and with a sigh and in the even rise and fall of her shoulders, he knows that his beloved has drifted off to sleep. His eyes flutter to stay awake, to keep guard, despite the impossibility to do either, given their current physical position. But her warmth and her very real weight on his chest is what finally gives him the solace to chase sleep himself.

The night sky is alight with stars and the air is still. For the first time in a hundred years, Hyrule finally sleeps in peace.


End file.
